BCIT Library Kiosk
UX/UI DESIGN
Roles
User Researcher
UX Designer
UI Designer
Team
Dora Tao
Roxanna Joy
Kelly Tan
Tools
Figma
Illustrator
Type
2 months
Proposal
Internship
Introduction
At my internship with MediaWorks, we were asked by the BCIT Library to create a proposal project aiming to solve the common problems of the librarians and the students.
Design Problem
The problem was that many students had unanswered questions and with the minimal amount of staff who were busy or not always present when needed, it was difficult to get answers fast. There are many services and events offered by that have gone unnoticed due to the lack of exposure or clear information given to the students, so having a way to direct people to the right platform was also important.
Project Goals
Create a platform that would solve the needs of student’s questions, while maximizing the librarian’s time towards their own duties
Have a interface that would match with BCIT’s branding guidelines to avoid any disunity and confusion
Have the platform provide external resources of BCIT to guide the users towards the services and events provided by the school
Research
My main role for this project was to conduct interviews that would help create the design solution. I began by identifying the needs of …
The librarians
Through this research we found that many members of the staff found themselves repeating a lot of the same answers to the large amount of students who come through the library. Questions were as simple as where is something located, to something a bit more complex like where can a student find resources for a project. We also found that there were features presented by the library that didn’t get much attention as they hoped. One of them was the Ask Away live chat feature, a third party application where students or staff can message a librarian in real time for any questions or concerns. Overall, the librarians wanted to dedicate more time towards their duties without worrying if a student got efficient help.
The students
Many of the students shared the same struggle of finding answers to their simple questions. They didn’t like that they had to consistently ask a librarian or a staff member to help them and much preferred an online solution instead. A lot of them were also unaware of any of the events or services that BCIT provided but agreed they would be interested if there was a platform that explained them in clear details. Overall, the students wanted a quick and efficient way to get their questions answered without it taking time away from their school work.
Process
By identifying the needs of both the librarians and the students we were able to categorize each need into sections: Printers, Copiers And Scanners, Events And Services, Directions, Research Help, Talk To Us and Visit the BCIT SITE.
Because of the short time frame we had at MediaWorks, we had some of the sections link to BCIT sites that contained information instead of being it displayed on the Kiosk. For example the Events And Services section would link to the BCIT Student Association site, since most of the events and services of the school were conducted by them.
Wireframes
When making the wireframes we had to consider the large and diverse students of BCIT. We had icons to correspond with the titles of the sections to have it be more translatable. We also found that some of the pages contained too much white space that didn’t bring any value to the design solution or there were sections that could be easily combined with one another and still be understandable. Because of this stage in our progress we were able to identify and evaluate a better strategy to this design solution.
Takeaways
Reflection
My time at MediaWorks was short but impactful. It truly strengthened my collaborative skills will challenging my leadership skills. Throughout my time there, I would take initiative for my team and create schedules and help designate our duties to have a seamless workflow together. One thing I wish I had the chance to do before the end of my internship, was to have this prototype to be tested to the students to evaluate the success or weak points of our design solution. But overall, my team and myself were still extremely proud of the work we had produced. I am grateful to have experienced a real-life industry setting and has made me excited for more opportunities to come.
Result
By targeting the potential problems and issues from our wireframes, our team at MediaWorks was able to come up with a high fidelity prototype that brought our design solution to life. We evaluated the branding styles of BCIT site and implemented to the kiosk to have unified look with the school. When we presented this proposal to the librarians, they were ecstatic at our design solution. They felt that this platform would be trustworthy and truly benefit the students in a simple and efficient way.